The Real Problem

The story of Jonah is one of my favorite Old Testament stories. Jonah is in utter rebellion against God. God tells him to go to Nineveh to preach to the enemies of God…Jonah goes in the opposite direction because he just knows that his preaching will work since God is such a God of grace and mercy. So as Jonah is in the process of disobeying God, lo and behold, there is a boat waiting for him to take him even further away from God’s plan for his life. I talk about this in another sermon clip but it bears repeating…there will always be a boat to accommodate our sin. So Jonah boards the boat and God sends a storm. The pagan sailors know that someone must have angered “the gods”. Jonah could have easily blamed the pagan sailors. By all measurements, the pagan sailors were FAR worse sinners than Jonah. But Jonah doesn’t do that. Jonah is vulnerable with the sailors, shares his story of brokenness, and as a result the pagan sailors turn to God.

As I speak to other Christians, I have found a common theme. People are either angry about the sins of the culture or very worried about the sins of the culture. I get it. We live in a broken and sinful world. But I believe we miss an opportunity when we blame the “people out there” for the state of things. The main problem aren’t the “people out there” but the main problem….and this is hard to hear…is us. The main problem is my heart, your heart, in many ways, the heart of the church collectively. Here is the hope….the pagan sailors came to the Lord not when Jonah judged them and certainly not when Jonah hid his own failures. The pagan sailors came to the Lord when Jonah was vulnerable….when Jonah finally started to search his own heart. I am not going to lie…it is a scary thing to get vulnerable with those far from God whether they be co-workers, friends, or (gulp) family members. You may get vulnerable with them and immediately regret it because they don’t respond the right way. But keep being humble. Be obedient to what God has called you to be (“poor in spirit”, humble, honest about your own failings) and God will use it in powerful ways that you may not even live to see.